The present invention relates to an optical fiber management device, and in particular to a device for controlling optical fiber routing in confined spaces, while minimizing light loss and fiber damage by preventing the fibers from exceeding their critical bending radius.
In general, the devices and assemblies that are currently available for fiber-optic management are used to position and arrange cables inside of large cabinets or cabling trays. Unfortunately, these devices do not present any means that would allow one to correctly align individual fiber optic cables in very restricted areas, such as those in small modules. Devices such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,305,642 (issued to Bloodworth et al, Dec. 15, 1981); U.S. Pat. No. 4,744,629 (issued to Bertoglio, May U.S. Pat. No. 17, 1988); 4,884,862 (issued to Kofod, Dec. 5, 1989); U.S. Pat. No. 4,989,945 (issued to Ohkura, Feb. 5, 191); U.S. Pat. No. 5,239,609 (issued to Auteri, Aug. 24, 1993); and U.S. Pat. No. 5,732,181 (issued to Engberg et al, Mar. 24, 1998) relate to fiber transition devices for protecting optical fibers in the transition from a ribbon to individual fibers. Most of these devices have relatively bulky parts and do not deal with the problem inherent in bending fiber in a restricted space.
A device called Optiflex(trademark), marketed by Lucent, is used to arrange complicated arrays of fiber optical cables in large cabinet structures, and is not for use in a small package such as a module. U.S. Pat. No. 6,005,991 issued Dec. 21, 2000 to Donald L Knasel discloses a device including a series of parallel fibers fixed between two sheets. These prior art devices rigidly fix cables or groups of fiber optic cable therein. Unfortunately, when the cable cannot be moved into or out of these devices after being installed, problems can arise. For example, if an end of an optical fiber has been damaged and extra splice length has not been left, there is no easy way in which the length of the optic fiber can be adjusted to create additional splice length for attaching a new fiber connector. This problem can also occur when replacing an existing connector with a different type of connector. Both of these problems would normally result in the complete replacement of the device, even if only one of the fibers is damaged.
An object of the present invention is to overcome the shortcomings of the prior art by providing a compact and flexible device for managing optical fiber in a small modular component or system. The system has individual support for each optical fiber, prevents over bending of the fibers, and allows the fibers to move therethrough with ease.
Accordingly the present invention relates to an optical fiber management device for directing optical fibers in a module and for facilitating the connection of adapters on the ends of the fibers. The module comprises two sides extending between two ends. The optical fiber management device comprising substantially planar housing means adapted to be positioned within the module; and a plurality of conduit means extending through the housing means for spreading out a plurality of optical fibers grouped along one side of the module into a spaced apart relationship along one end of the module. The conduit means are adapted to prevent the fibers from exceeding their critical bending radius. The fibers are freely slideable within the conduit means to enable extra fiber to be pulled therethrough, if necessary.